Dump-car-door latch



May 1, 1923. 1,453,836

H. s. HART DUMP CAR DOOR LATCH Filed May a, 1922 Patented May 1, 1923.

HARRY s. HART, or CHICAGO, 'InLiNoIs, asslenoit TO mw'iqaaem can COMPANY, "OF CHICAGO, ILLiNOIS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

panacea-noon LATCH. 4

Application filed May. 6,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HARRY S. HART, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Dump-Car-Door Latches float-ion. i

This invention relates to means for con trolling the latching and Lin-latching of dump car doors, and particularly to the type of controlling meohanisnrdisclosed in my application Serial No. 526,588, filedglanuary 3, 1922,,wherein I have described and claimed latching ,mechanism comprising I latches and a toggle lever connected with.

the latches and moved into and out of looking' position by the'latching and unlatching movements; also means whereby the toggle lever canbe positively moved to unlatch the door from a vantage point which does the path of the discharging cargo. I

0 e object of th'epresent invention is to provide an improved means through which to impart the unlockingmovement to-the toggle lever in an arrangement such as that described in aforesaid application; also to adapt means to impart locking movemeiitas well as unlocking movement. Ac- I "isting for a part of its length, in common with the toggle 'ine'inb er to which it is immdiately related, and which is fulcrumed ona' latch. "In other words, one of the members of the toggle lever is inade of such length that it can be hinged to the other member thereof at such a point intermediate of its en'd's to provide a toggle actuaeingarm extending to the aforesaid vantage point for operation; and said arm lends its leverage in controlling the toggle,

, of which the following is a speci-,

g the keeper. not involve the presence of the operator in,

1922. Serial No. 558,980.

in looking as well as unlocking movements, and at all times adds to the safety of the device by exerting its weight in the direction to hold the toggle locked.

Another object of-the present invention is to utilize the toggle actuating arm for locking the toggle against unlatching move ment, and, to this end, a further feature of the invention consists in so constructing and locating the toggle actuating arm that its free end'can be forced into, engagement I with a keeper when the toggle is in locking position, the, keeper being of such construction that it holds the arm in such ,enga'gementuntil the arm is intentionally released therefrom; the preferred embodiment of this featureof theinvention also involving the utilization of inherent resiliency in-the arm to return its free end, when so released, i

to apath which is free from obstruction by Inorder that the inventionmay be fully understood, the preferred embodiment there-1 of will be described in connection withfthe accompanying drawing, .in whichf q Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a freight car and its dropdoor and jlatching mechanism, with the "present invention embodied therein.

Figure 2 isa detail mechanism of Figure 1 shown on an enlarged scale, and with unlock-positions=of the parts indicated in dotted lines ;,and

Figure 3, is atop plan view of'the parts shownin Figure 2. I. f v The embodiment of "the invention Therein selected for illustration comprises in genview of the latching eral the illustrative embodiment of my. previous application herein identified, with. the present improvements added thereto. Thus, 5 represents a portion of a dump car body, 6 the dump doorway thereof, and 7,- the door for closing said doorway. Door 7,, bef ing suitably hinged, is retained in closed position by the engagement of itscleats; 9, by latches '10 pivoted. at 11 to the outer side wall of the car in'position to engage beneath said "cleats when the door. isclosech Toggle arms 12 hingedtogether at 1 3,- are pivotally connected to the 'latc'hesfatpoints d4 which are remote from-the latch pivots ll so that the toggle arins partake, of the movements of the 'latches;mea'ns such as the limiting lug 15 being provided on one toggle arm in position to engage the other toggle arm and prevent the downward breaking of the toggle lever; stops such as 16 being provided on the respective latches to limit the unlatching movement of each so that the one which reaches its limit of movement first will constitute a point of anchorage to insure completion of movement of the other; and dogs 19, pivoted at 20, and carrying limiting stops 22, being so arranged in the paths of the cleats 9 that they are held elevated so long as the door is closed, but gravitate into the paths of the toes 21 of the latches when the latter a re withdrawn and the door drops, and thus detain the latches and toggle lever in unlock-position until the door is thrown shut and cleats 9 again displace the dogs upward.

In the construction constituting the basis of my previous application aforesaid, one of the toggle arms was constructed with lugs to receive a lever through which to displace underlying element of safety in the lockingof the door, by providing a permanently related operating arm for moving the toggle lever to unlocking position, and relates this arm in a manner toenable it to not only serve more advantageously but perform additional functions. Accordingly, the present invention consists in mounting, in substantially rigid angular relation to a member, such as the toggle member 12, in the general organization of parts described, an arm 17 which costitutes an extension of the toggle member beyond the point 13 at which it hinges with the other member; and extending this arm in position to engage with a keeper 18 when the toggle is in looking position. By disengaging arm 17 from the keeper 18 and raising the arm, toggle lever 12 can be broken upward into unlocking position, where the latches 10 will be arrested by the dogs 19; and when the door has been thrown shut, and dogs 19 have been displaced from the latches 10, so that the latches can engage beneath the cleats 9, the arm may be used to force the toggle all the way downward into firm locking position with greatly augmented pressure, thus overcoming any resistance to complete locking movement. Keeper 18 will be out of the normal path of arm 17, but the arm will be constructed with inherent resiliency sutficient for deflection of the arm into interlock with the overhanging lip of the keeper, and for springing the arm back to its free path of movement when voluntarily displaced from the keeper.

It will be seen that while in the specific embodiment selected for illustration, the arm 17 constitutes an integral extension of a member of the toggle lever, in the analysis of the organization of parts, said arm constitutes a lever which is fulcrumed upon, and

par-takes ot the movements of a latch to and from the door part; it is rigid with a member of the toggle lever so that it transfers its tion to add its weight to that of the toggle members in the direction of locking; and it lies in a direction which leaves it unmoved by butting and pulling shocks imposed upon the car in travel.

I claim:

1, In combination with a dump car door and its latch, a toggle lever pivotally con-" nected with and adapted to impart latching and unlatching movement to said latch, and

a toggle actuating arm angularly rigid with a member of the toggle lever.

2. In combination with a dump car door and its latch, a toggle lever pivotally connected with and adapted to impart latching and unlatching movement to said latch, and a toggle actuating arm angularly rigid with a member of the toggle lever; said arm conlatches at points remote from their pivots and having a hinglng connection intermediate of saidlatches, and an operating arm ex tending from a member of said toggle lever in a direction to urge the toggle lever to locking position by the weight of the arm.

5. In combination with a dump car door and its latch, a toggle lever pivotally connected with and adapted to impart latching and unlatching movement to said latch,

and a toggle actuating arm angularly rigid with a member of the toggle lever; said arm being adapted to engage a keeper when the toggle lever is in locked position.

6. In combination with a dump car door and its latch, a toggle lever pivotally cona toggle actuating arm angularly rigid with a member of the toggle lever; said arm being adapted to engage a keeper when the toggle lever is in lockedposition, located outof the normal path of the arm, and said arm being displaceable from its path to interlock with said keeper.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 1st day of May, 1922.

HARRY s. HART. 

